Fishing In Uncertain Times

IT'S MID-JUNE as I sit down to write this—roughly four months after a troublesome bug believed to have originated in China reared its ugly head. It has turned what started off as a banner spring fishing season into a living nightmare unlike any we have ever seen.

To date, more than 100,000 people have reportedly died in the U.S. as the result of the coronavirus. Millions have lost their jobs and many others are living with the uneasy feeling they might get a pink slip any day.

Amazingly, quite a few are making considerably more by drawing unemployment than their day jobs paid. Uncertain and strange times, indeed.

The impact of this pandemic has been devastating, and there are seemingly no boundaries to its reach. It’s hard to imagine that this virus might wreck a Florida bass production year for a state-of-the-art freshwater hatchery system such as Texas Parks and Wildlife’s, but it did.

The pandemic occurred during a magical window of time when freshwater hatchery production is at its peak. Freshwater aquaculture is a labor-intensive business that often places hatchery workers in close quarters for extended periods of time, particularly when it’s time for fish to spawn.

With shelter in place orders and social distancing guidelines, TPWD freshwater hatchery managers decided it was prudent to err on the side of safety. Hatchery personnel were reduced to skeleton crews. Their workloads shifted toward raising forage for captive brood bass and rearing channel cats to meet commitments with the popular Neighborhood Fishing Program.

As a consequence, the first of two production cycles of Florida largemouth bass scheduled for early March didn’t happen.

Likewise, production numbers for the year were projected be down at least 50 percent, if not more. That ultimately resulted in significantly fewer fish available for stocking in public lakes than were requested by district leaders.

To wit:

In mid-June, Sam Rayburn received 429,000 of the 858,000 fingerlings originally requested for the year. At Lake Fork, only about 256,000 of the 508,000-requested Florida bass fingerlings were stocked.

The economic fallout on the fishing industry hasn’t been fully recognized yet, but it hasn’t been pretty. Fishing tournament organizations—large and small—have been forced into a four-month hiatus that did not end until early June.

ICAST, recognized as the largest fishing tackle trade show in the world for more than 60 years, canceled the “physical” portion its July show in favor of a “virtual” format to help keep the global fishing community connected.

More bad news came in late May when Evinrude announced it will cease production of outboard engines. This includes the Evinrude E-Tec currently mounted to transoms of several top bass pros such as Clark Wendlant, Andy Morgan, Bryan Thrift, Scott Martin, Jim Tutt, Jacob Wheeler and others.

Evinrude’s parent company, Bombardier Recreational Products, cited the economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis as the final nail in the coffin for a company that was already struggling.

What’s really interesting is the uptick in fishing traffic on Texas lakes, bays and rivers during the height of all this hysteria. July 4 crowds seemed to gather on good fishing lakes just about every day of the week, resulting in a definite spike in fishing license sales.

According to TPWD figures, 418,259 fishing licenses were sold statewide between March 11 and May 20 of this year. During the same time period in 2019, 336,019 fishing licenses were sold. These figures indicate an increase of 82,240 licenses sold.

The increase in sales resulted in a significant bump in revenue for the department. License revenue for March 11 and May 20, 2020, was up more than $5.6 million over 2019.

Like most bait shop, tackle store and marina operators, Tony Parker at Minnow Bucket Marina on Lake Fork says he sold more licenses to beginning anglers last spring than he can recall in the past.

“I think it’s because there isn’t much else to do around here right now except fish, or because people are starting to worry and are wanting to stock their freezers with fish,” Parker said. “There have definitely been a lot of people out on the water.”

Craig Bonds, TPWD’s chief of inland fisheries, says he believes both factors may have led to the bump in license sales.

“We don’t know which is more influential, but people had more leisure time on their hands with less competing activities for their time,” Bonds said. “They either want to get out to enjoy some recreation outdoors in a responsible and safe way, or they are looking for a way to put some food in the freezer. Fishing allows you to accomplish both.”

Strange and uncertain times, indeed. Here’s hoping it’s all behind us by the time this issue of TF&G hits the streets.

Email Matt Williams at ContactUs@fishgame.com

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